That's one twelfth of the year done and dusted

Here we are, charging into February......I could have sworn we were celebrating New Year just a few minutes ago!  Many cultures are cultures are, however, celebrating Lunar New Year, this year is the year of the rabbit or the cat, depending on the country.

Choir is back, both ukulele groups are back.  Life has settled down into its usual busy-ness, and it can get quite busy at times.

Stitches have been stitched, diamonds have been joined, but nothing is yet photograph-worthy.  Words have been read.  Notes have been sung and plinked.

Another example of Kevin's grandmother Laura's beautiful crochet.

A pretty carnation and dragonfly pattern, in an octagonal shape....fairly sure I remember this being displayed on a small table in Kevin's parents' home.  It, too, was possibly designed by Mary Card.

My maternal grandmother had a sister Laura, born in 1883 just a few years after Kevin's grandmother Laura, who was born in 1880.  Laura was obviously a popular name in the 1880s - isn't it interesting how names are cyclical, how their popularity comes and goes?  The name Laura, it seems, has Latin origins; Daphne is the same name in Greek, my mother had a friend named Daphne.

I went through school with several other girls named Jennifer, it was a favourite in the late 1940s-early 1950s; most of them were Jennifer Ann/e or Jennifer Margaret, so my name Jennifer Grace was a bit different.  Perhaps we can thank (or blame!) actress Jennifer Jones, who was popular at the time.....but whose real name wasn't Jennifer at all, it was Phyllis.  Phyllis Grace......ah, no.  Phyllis was my mother's generation, not mine.

My grandmothers were Edith (maternal) and Florence Gordon (paternal), my mother was Mavis Eileen.  My maternal grandmother had no middle name, while my paternal grandmother's middle name of Gordon may have come from her father's Scottish family.  One of my paternal grandmother Florence's sisters was called......wait for it......Australia!  Not an uncommon name in the later years of the nineteenth century when the Australian colonies were heading toward federation, it was given to both girls and boys.

This morning we had a foretaste of autumn, a cooler start to the day.  We know warmer weather will be with us for a while yet, but now it's February we can say 'next month will be cooler'.  Meanwhile, I know some of you on the far side of the known universe from here are suffering through snow and ice storms which make for beautiful pictures, but oh - it does look cold!

Continuing on with Etiquette of the Street:

"Offering the arm to a lady.

A gentleman should, in the evening, or whenever her safety, comfort or convenience seems to require it, offer a lady companion his arm.  At other times it is not customary to do so unless the parties be husband and wife or engaged.  In the latter cases, it is not always advisable to do so, as they may be made the subject of unjust remarks."

Why would a couple be subject of unjust remarks if they are married or engaged?  Seems a bit odd to me, but obviously times were different then.

Enjoy your days!